Kursk battle

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Art
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Re: Kursk battle

#31

Post by Art » 19 Nov 2022, 09:43

Finally hard data on ammunition expenditure by the Voronezh Front in "Citadel" (4-18 July 1943):
https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=454088637

Expenditure (in thousands):
Rifle ammo - 56 513.7 (0.7 ammo unit)
Revolver ammo - 240.1 (0.7 units)
pistol ammo - 40 043.3 (0.8 units)
DshK ammo - 444.2 (0.5 units)
Anti-tank rifle ammo - 865.6 (0.4 units)
Hand grenades - 587.7 (0.6 units)
Anti-tank grenades RPG-40 - 140.4 (1.1 units)
Signal flares - 215.2 (0.2 units)
50-mm mortar rounds - 241.7 (0.6 units)
82-mm mortar - 568.9 (1.2 units)
120-mm mortar - 177.0 (1.2 units)
20-mm ShVAK gun - 22.0 (0.5 units)
45-mm fragmentation round - 227.2 (0.8 units)
45-mm armor-piercing - 133.8
45-mm subcaliber - 19.7
76-mm regimental gun HE - 82.4 (1.1 units)
76-mm regimental gun HEAT - 2.3
76-mm divisional gun HE - 350.2 (1.1 units)
76-mm divisional armor-piercing - 94.5
76-mm divisional subcaliber - 0.6
122-mm howitzer - 46.7 (0.9)
152-mm gun-howitzer - 25.9 (2.0)
203-mm B-4 howitzer - 1.3 (1.4)
25-mm anti-aircraft gun - 4.8 (0.6)
37-mm anti-aircraft gun - 117.0 (1.1)
85-mm anti-aicraft gun - 8.7 (0.3)

Also breakdown by days in the same table.

From these data ammuntion expenditure per one weapon during 15 days (4-18 July):
12.7-mm DShK machine gun - 1000 rounds
AT rifle - 48
50-mm mortar - 72
82-mm mortar - 144
120-mm mortar - 96
45-mm gun - 268
76-mm regimental - 158
76-mm divisional - 196
122-mm howitzer - 72
152-mm gun-howitzer - 120
203-mm howitzer - 56
25-mm AA gun - 240
37-mm AA gun - 220
85-mm AA gun - 45

and the number of respective weapons:

12.7-mm DShK machine gun - 444
AT rifle - 18 000
50-mm mortar - 3 360
82-mm mortar - 3 950
120-mm mortar - 1840
45-mm gun - 1 420
76-mm regimental gun - 535
76-mm divisional gun - 2 270
122-mm howitzer - 650
152-mm gun-howitzer - 215
203-mm howitzer - 23
25-mm AA gun - 20
37-mm AA gun - 532
85-mm AA gun - 193

Art
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Re: Kursk battle

#32

Post by Art » 19 Nov 2022, 19:18

Average ammunition expenditure of the Central Front during operation "Citadel" (8 days, 5-12 July 1943) in rounds per one weapon:

Rifle ammo - 37
TT pistol ammo - 142
14.5-mm AT rifle - 23
50-mm mortar - 33
82-mm mortar - 63
120-mm mortar - 93
12.7-mm DShK machine gun - 400
37-mm AA gun - 294
20-mm ShVAK gun - 87
85-mm AA gun - 32
45-mm anti-tank gun - 73
76-mm regimental gun - 100
76-mm divisional gun - 103
107-mm gun mod. 1910/30 - 107
122-mm howitzer - 118
122-mm gun mod. 31 - 325
152-mm howitzer - 260
152-mm gun-howitzers mod. 37 - 83

In absolute numbers:
76-mm divisional gun - 268.5 thousand rounds
122-mm howitzer - 88.8 thousand
152-mm howitzer and gun - 41 thousand
Expenditure in wagon loads per day:
5 July - 190
6 July - 268
7 July - 200
8 July - 133
9 July - 128
10 July - 133
11 July - 68
12 July - 78
total 1193 wagon loads, of them 913 in the sector of the 13 Army/Central Front.

From report on activity of the Central Front's artillery in July 1943:
https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=133322533


Art
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Re: Kursk battle

#33

Post by Art » 20 Nov 2022, 12:39

According to the report on OOB and battle strength of the Central Front it possessed the following servicable weapons on 5 July 1943 (battle units only)

262 596 rifles
108 937 machine pistols
14 031 light, 4 927 medium and 823 anti-aircraft machine guns
12 861 AT rifles
2427 50-mm, 3789 82-mm and 1707 120-mm mortars
2130 45-mm guns
665 76-mm regimental guns
1484 76-mm divisional guns
5 107-mm guns
703 122-mm howitzers
38 122-mm guns
108 152-mm howitzers
144 152-mm gun-howitzers
48 203-mm howitzers
428 light and 133 85-mm anti-aricraft guns + 36 85-mm anti-tank guns
https://pamyat-naroda.ru/documents/view/?id=133320665

Combining wtih previous numbers we arrive to absolute expeinditure on 5-12.7 in thousand rounds:
AT rifles - 295
DShK machine guns - 329
50-mm mortars - 80
82-mm mortars - 239
120-mm mortars - 159
45-mm guns - 155
76-mm regimental guns - 67
76-mm divisional guns - 153 (*)
107-mm guns - 0.5
122-mm howitzers - 83
122-mm guns - 12
152-mm howitzers - 28
152-mm gun-howitzers - 12
37-mm AA guns - 126
85-mm guns - 4 or 5

(*) much smaller than 268 500 rounds quoted in the artillery activity report. Probably the report counts average expenditure realtive to the combined number of field and tank 76-mm guns. Expenditure of 122-mm and 152-mm rounds more or less agrees with the report.

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Kingfish
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Re: Kursk battle

#34

Post by Kingfish » 20 Nov 2022, 12:47

What is the difference between these two?

665 76-mm regimental guns
1484 76-mm regimental guns
The gods do not deduct from a man's allotted span the hours spent in fishing.
~Babylonian Proverb

Art
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Re: Kursk battle

#35

Post by Art » 20 Nov 2022, 13:30

My bad, corrected.

Art
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Re: Kursk battle

#36

Post by Art » 21 Nov 2022, 07:41

Soviet ammunition expenditure in July 1943 by fronts, including Kursk
(090511230552)_Jul43_raskhod.JPG
Breakdown by type in thousands Central/Voronezh Front
Rifle ammo - 66 761.0/72 351.0
Revolver ammo - 305.0/340.0
TT pistol ammo - 54 89*.0/66 831.0
DShK - 727.0/873.0
AT rifle - 1077.0/1215.0
Hand grenades mod.32 - 796.0/821.0
Hand grenade PG-40 - 175.0/183.0
26-mm flares - 330.0/357.0
25-mm AA gun - 0.6/2.5
37-mm AA gun - 223.5/192.1
76-mm AA gun mod.31/38 - 0.1/0
85-mm AA gun - 22.4/18.4
20-mm ShVAK gun - 86.4/22.9
45-mm gun - 311.8/471.7
45-mm sub-caliber round - 18.3/27.4
57-mm ZIS-2 11.5/0
76-mm regimental gun -172.4/116.2
76-mm divisional gun HE - 671.7/479.0
76-mm armor-piercing - 81.4/103.3
107-mm gun mod. 1910/30 - 4.5/0.3
122-mm gun mod.31 - 21.4/4.6
122-mm howitzer - 159.5/69.4
152-mm howitzer - 43.7/0
152-mm howitzer-gun mod.1931 - 43.8/29.4
203-mm howitzer - 4.3/0.1
50-mm mortar - 316.3/231.3
82-mm mortar - 1035.2/661.2
120-mm mortar - 393.0/220.9

In general Central Front's expenditure of artillery ammunition was consistently especially in calibers above 100-mm. On the other hand the Voronezh Front expended more anti-tank ammunition. Both fronts combined accounted for more than 50% of the total expenditure of 76-mm anti-tank rounds and 45-mm APC (sub-caliber) rounds and a little less than 50% of anti-tank rifle ammo, which is unsurprising. No separate figures are given for usual 45-mm armor-piercing rounds, but I expect that their share was similar.

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